Trouble in Dreams
continues Bejars lyrical and musical assault on all that is
stagnant in modern popular music. His is a body of work that
consistently flouts convention in favor of musical leaps of
faith, statements of purpose cloaked in subterfuge, and the
joyous refrain of an optimists heart cloaked in cynicism.
Anthems sprawl with shifting
layers of guitar and piano,
spinning just to the edge of chaos and back, while
referencing fantastical realms and mysterious women who may
or may not approve of our interloping voyeurism.

Written during an extended stay in Spain during the spring
and summer of 2007,
Trouble in Dreams is both
soothing and jarring, sparing us neither his lyrical bite
nor pulling any punches. Trouble
in Dreams
is yet another brilliant entry in the astonishing Destroyer
canon.

Dan Bejar started Destroyer as a solo home-recording project
in the early to mid-nineties. In 1996, he released his debut
full length of stripped-down, lo-fi electric folk, Well Build Them a Golden Bridge.
Soon the Destroyer template expanded to include a rhythm
section, and Bejar was compelled to head into a proper
studio to record City of
Daughters in 1998. It was with
Daughters
that Bejar began to develop his own unique lyrical voice, a
voice that continued to evolve and refine itself over the
course of his next two records,
Thief and Streethawk: A Seduction.
Destroyer seemingly had produced its masterwork with Streethawk,
a highly refined send-up and condemnation of popular
culture, an idea honed to razor-sharp precision. The album
became one of the most acclaimed recordings of 2001, and the
Destroyer mystique captured music fans and critics alike.
This Night,
the Destroyer debut for Merge, is an epic full of
indulgences and flights of fancy that seemed the perfect
foil to the sleek and streamlined approach of earlier
recordings. This Night
both baffles and seduces, leaving jaws on the floor and
confounding both fans and critics. Bejar took another turn
towards the unexpected with Your
Blues, his second recording for
Merge, wherein he stripped Destroyer down to its barest
essentials once again, with MIDI-synthesizer symphonies that
explored what Bejar dubbed European Blues, a vainglorious
retreat from American rock traditions, celebrating an
exercise in old-world excess within limited means. Those who
had been pining for a new
Streethawk
were left shaking their heads, forced to admit that the last
thing Destroyer was ever going to give them was anything
close to what they expected (or hoped for). Bejar had
everyone right where he wanted: dazed, confused, and not
knowing what was to come next.

What came next was yet another triumph. Destroyers Rubies
was hailed as the second coming by many longtime fans and
firmly established Destroyer as a critical and commercial
success without ever having compromised Bejars vision at any
point along the way. On its March 2006 cover, The Fader
proclaimed him Rocks Exiled King and we could not agree
more. But it was a case of self-imposed exile, as Bejar and
company have never had much use for the trappings of
indie-rock fame.

Over the course of his career as Destroyer, Dan Bejar has
established himself and his band as one of the most
unpredictable success stories in modern popular music. As a
songwriter, Bejar is recognized as having few peers. As a
musician, he is like the court jester, waiting in the wings,
poking fun at those who take themselves too seriously and
skewering those who would celebrate commerce as art.

Destroyer gets yogic on “Bay of
Pigs” EP

05/21/09

On August
18, we will release the new Destroyer EP, Bay of Pigs,
exclusively on 12-inch vinyl. Bay of Pigs
is a limited-edition EP with over 20 minutes of new
Destroyer material. Destroyer will be on tour in
July on the East Coast and will perform at XX Merge.

At 13:37, “Bay of Pigs” is the longest of Destroyer
songs. It is also Destroyer’s first foray into the
ambient disco market. The song was recorded
throughout the winter of 2009 with longtime
Destroyer collaborators/members John Collins and
David Carswell at their JCDC Studio in downtown
Vancouver. “Bay of Pigs” is an account of the 1961
American invasion of Cuba, often referred to as The
Bay Of Pigs.

The music for “Ravers” was played entirely on
analogue synthesizer, and recorded, by Ted Bois
(Destroyer, Pink Mountaintops) in April 2009. It
explores some of the more meditative realms of 20th
Century classical composition. The song itself is a
casual rumination on parties, political parties,
madness and suffering (for one’s art).